Michael Dunn case show white fear trumps black life

1:33 PM,
Feb. 20, 2014

Michael Dunn returns to the courtroom during jury deliberations in his trial in Jacksonville, Fla. , Thursday Feb. 13, 2014. Dunn said he shot 17-year-old Jordan Davis in self-defense outside a Jacksonville convenience store in 2012 after an argument over loud music. He was found guilty of three counts of attempted murder, but the jury was deadlocked on the murder charge in the Davis shooting.

Written by

Leonard Pitts

"You can get killed just for living in your American skin." - Bruce Springsteen

On Aug. 7, 1930, two young black men were lynched in Marion, Ind.

A photographer named Lawrence Beitler had a studio across the street from the lynching tree. He came out and snapped what became an iconic photo, which he made into a postcard and sold. It shows Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith hanging dead and their executioners, faces clearly visible, milling about as if at a picnic. Though authorities possessed this damning photographic evidence, they never arrested anyone for the crime. It was officially attributed ...